Nikki Puppet

Militant Mother

Written by: PP on 09/03/2007 12:29:10

Germany's Nikki Puppet consists of a rather unusually comprised lineup when it comes to 80s influenced heavy rock, in that instead of the usual cheezy all-male lineup notable for their long hairdoos, two females have sneaked into the bass and vocal duties respectively, and have even had the band named after one of them (Nicky Gronewold). This isn't the only refreshing feature about the band however, as their sophomore album "Militant Mother" breathes out freshness to the rather stale heavy rock scene.

The opening track "Lost In Time" sets the mood to be angstful to begin with. It's upbeat, but Nicky's vocals sound melancholic and oddly pissed off, think Courtney Love's attitude and add to it a far superior singing talent. Her long-stretched clean vocals reign over the power-chord based music making it sound far more interesting than it otherwise might. Occasionally they break slightly and a few marginally scratchy lines pop out adding character to the songs, deviating them from one another. Others, like "Turning In Circles", are more balladic, although the soundscapes are still massively huge. The choruses in all of the tracks are monstrously big, take the ravaging "Open Up Your Mind" as an example which probably breaks about every single rule about how a chorus is meant to sound like: it's meaner and angrier than the rest of the song, quite the opposite what most bands do for choruses - but here it works brilliantly. I wouldn't want to date the female singing that chorus. That should give you an idea about how masculine she is able to sound when she wants to.

The differentiation between the songs on the album works as a definite plus. You don't have to listen to the album too many times before you'll remember the danceable "If" or the oh-so-80s pop-style chorus of "Words". Think the 80s classic "I Will Survive". The fusion of the 80s feel to the more modern power-pop influenced heavy metal is flawlessly made on many tracks, and as the icing on top of the cake, the band has included a cover of the Billy Joel classic "We Didn't Start The Fire", albeit in a much modernised, speeded up and danceable format. It sounds even more positive than the original (if that was even possible), and gives a great image of what Nikki Puppet are trying to do here. They want to break all the clichés and restrictions of the heavy metal genre and for once, write something original, maybe fuse in a genre or two and remove all the negativity surrounding most songs in the genre. "Militant Mother" is an excellent example that their approach still works as well as it did on the debut. Highly recommended.

8

Download: Lost In Time, Words, Turning In Circles
For the fans of: NU, Rival Schools, Guano Apes
Listen: Myspace

Release date 16.02.2007
Armageddon Music
Provided by Target ApS

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